By: Farah Saleh
Hello and welcome to a new race weekend. Here we are today in Japan, the home town of Yuki Tsunoda. The race will take place on Suzuka Circuit, which is 5.807 kilometers long and a race distance of 307.471 kilometers with one DRS zone. The race will consist of 53 laps.
The first Formula 1 race to be held at the Suzuka Circuit was in 1987, and the one who won that day was the Austrian Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger.
I don’t know why but I have a strong feeling that the weather conditions will be hard on Sunday and do you what’s the one thing always related to weather? Tires.
So, let’s talk about the tires.
There are six slick compounds that are arranged from the hardest to the softest and are numbered from C0 to C5 and ‘C’ stands for ‘compound’. Each grand prix has 3 compounds that are chosen according to the circumstances of each circuit.
C0: This compound is considered to be the hardest that is mostly used for difficult circuits that consume the tires such as Suzuka in Japan, Silverstone in UK, and Losail in Qatar.
C1: It is a new compound added in 2023 and it was presented to be something in between the hardest compounds. This compound can be used like the C0 in Suzuka, Silverstone but also in Bahrain, Circuit de Catalunya in Spain and Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
C2: This is the third hardest compound that is used for fast circuits such as Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
C3: This compound is used during different conditions as it provides a mix between durability and performance and it used in circuits such as Baku and Monaco.
C4: This compound is used on low-severity circuits that does not require much warming and it is usually used in Imola in Emilia Romagna and Spa in Belgium.
C5: This compound is the softest of them all, and it is used on slow circuits and street circuits such as Abu Dhabi, Singapore, as well as Monaco and Baku in Azerbaijan.
Now, you might think that we are done, but no. Because down below we will talk about different tires that provide different performance.
1- Hard Tires will last for many laps but they do not have much grip and they take a lot of time to get warm.
2- Medium Tires has the benefits of the two other tires, however, it is not the perfect one between the two of them.
3- Soft Tires has the most grip, however, they will not last long during a race so they are perfect for the qualifying to provide good speed and allow the drivers to set the fastest lap.
4- Intermediate Tires is used during raining conditions on wet tracks when there is no standing water. These type of tires are considered to be a transition between slick tires (Hard, Medium, Soft) and Full wet.
5- Full Wet Tires are used during extreme conditions such as heavy rain as they give the best grip during the rain.
It is widely known that Pirelli, which is an Italian Manufacturer, have been supplying Formula 1 with tires since 2011.
Now after today’s lesson, you will predict exactly which tires will be used and in which circumstances perhaps even Pirelli will use your excellent knowledge one day.
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